who am i?

My name is Jett Street. Admittedly, I was born as 'Lani Studders,' fabricated this name at the age of 12, and legally changed it at 19.  For anyone contemplating the logistics, a name change takes five seconds, $74 aussie dollars, and then one solid month changing every piece of paperwork that relates to your identity. In short, one of the most innovative university assignment procrastination measures I have undertaken; second only to inventing my own alphabet and writing stories in it. If only I could still read them.... 

These days I am much less impulsive. Mostly because I have two children, and a job, that keep me too busy to act on all my whims.

In my younger years, I took... at least one.... instamatic camera on holidays and was devastated to get the film back and notice that the photos looked NOWHERE near as good as my memories. So I stubbornly stopped using cameras; electing instead, to tuck the memories deep in my mind where I could embellish them at my will. But. Fifteen years later, the time thief keeps pilfering these memories from me. I would kill for a terrible photo of those fading moments. Teaching my daughters to be less stubborn is on my to do list. 

In 2010 I got an iPhone, and downloaded hipstamatic and istitch. Holy shit. I thought my photography was so cutting edge with all those light leaks and cross process effects. Then I had a child, and conceded that this probably wasn't the quality I wanted to document that beautiful life with. For my 30th birthday, everyone threw dollar bills at me and I purchased my first real camera. I can get pretty passionate about things - but even I was caught by surprise by the infatuation that unfurled, trying to capture the magic of life, that those disposable cameras + my dodgy skillset were not capable of.

At that exact time I was eyeballs deep in my Masters. I rewarded myself for completing assignments with gifts of lenses, and permission to pore over photography sites between the hours of midnight and dawn. In other words, I rewarded my sleep deprivation with further sleep deprivation - and then whinged about ageing. Women. Four years later I am not even close to mastering the art of the camera. But. If I stick at it until I am 70, I might be in a position to offer advice to my grandchildren about sticking to something. Hopefully my recent fascination with of out of focus images won't become a major part of my repertoire, and will just reflect a few fleeting months of my life. Maybe. Who knows.

Admittedly, the love I have for my recently acquired Leica, and some of the lenses in my life rivals my feelings for.... not my "closest friends or children"... but you get the drift. On my hit list this year is film and a foray into medium format.

My other favourite things in the world are: adventures, hours in the kitchen, cranking music in the car, magic light, terrible jokes, cooking + eating never ending plates of delicious food, philosophy, politics, black coffee, the mountains, fireplaces, gin, red wine, road trips, running, wind, clouds, reading, thunderstorms, fog, smoke (not smoking), lying on the ground, views of the distance - - - and the legends I have met in the last 3+ decades. If you get a phone call or text once a year, you might actually be my best friend. My ability to keep in touch with people I love leaves a lot to be desired. I also have a job that I love and should update my Linkedin profile. But why, if I don't need to find another job?

If you were hoping this would actually tell you something meaningful about my life, too bad. And here is my favourite quote.

It is, after all, a dab of grit in the oyster which creates the pearl. Not pearl making seminars with other oysters. - Steven King